Belshazzar Falls Back at the Writing on the WallBible World
5:4Daniel 5:4
They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone.
While Babylon was besieged by the Medes and Persians, Belshazzar feasted in revelry with his lords and drank wine from the sacred golden vessels taken from Jerusalem's temple. As they drank they gave to idols of gold and silver and brass and iron and wood and stone the praise and adoration belonging alone to the Lord God of heaven. Their drunken, sensual merriment was sacrilegious idol worship that dishonored God and profaned holy things dedicated to Him. Though they did not recognize Him, God with Christ and angels was present as an unseen Witness, observing every word and deed and making a faithful record against them. At the height of the revelry a hand traced doom upon the wall, declaring the king weighed in the balances and found wanting, and that very night he was slain and his kingdom passed to others.
Feast Setting and History
The scene belongs near the end of Daniel's life, more than sixty years after he and his companions were taken captive, when Babylon had passed from Nebuchadnezzar to weaker successors and was in gradual decline. The feast took place while Babylon was besieged by Cyrus and the Medes and Persians. Protected by the city's defenses and abundant provisions, Belshazzar felt safe and spent the time in revelry.
That revelry gathered his thousand lords with his princes and nobles in an idolatrous wine feast of riot and blasphemy. It was filled with music and dancing and feasting and sparkling wine and idolatrous sacrifices insulting the God of heaven. While profaning the golden vessels sacred to God, the company praised the idols of Babylon in sacrilegious mirth.
Belshazzar himself was a pleasure-loving and self-glorifying absolute monarch, void of self-control and corrupt at heart. He had opportunities to know God's will and had seen the lessons of Nebuchadnezzar's humiliation and restoration, which were meant to lead him to reform. But he ignored them and failed to learn the truth, and that neglect cost him the benefits obedience could have brought.
Idolatry and Sacrilege Described
They drank wine from the sacred golden vessels that had been taken from the temple at Jerusalem and consecrated to God and to Jehovah, turning holy things dedicated to God to profane use. This was profanation and desecration in blasphemous contempt and presumption. While drinking they praised the gods of gold and of silver and of brass or bronze and of iron and of wood and of stone.
The praise, adoration and ravishing tenderness belonging alone to the Lord God of heaven was given to Babylon's idols, to the cup itself, and to material objects and vessels of gold and silver, while the king extolled human wisdom. Their drunken revelry was itself an act of idolatry and sacrilegious idol worship. The revelry was marked by drunkenness and gluttony and blasphemy and contempt for sacred things, by riot and licentious purposes, and by unrestrained dancing and singing and lustful and sensual indulgence.
It dishonored God and made His people a shame before the heathen. It shows how people under Satan's influence are carried into shameful conduct that dulls and beguiles the senses.
Unseen Witness and Judgment
The drinking and praising of gods of gold and silver and brass and iron and wood and stone went on under the gaze of a heavenly Witness whom the revelers did not recognize. God was present as an unseen witness in the palace in the hour of wildest merriment, and Christ and angels were present as an uninvited, unseen Witness observing every word and deed. He heard the praises given to idols and saw the desecration of vessels consecrated to God and to Jehovah, and He made a history and faithful record to testify against them to the close of time.
At the height of the revelry a bloodless, invisible hand appeared and traced mysterious characters of doom and judgment upon the palace wall. The writing filled the king and his courtiers with terror and testified to the king's true condition and traced his destiny. By the servant of the Most High it was declared that his motives and character and life and soul had been weighed in the balances of the sanctuary and found wanting.
That same night the feast was suddenly overtaken by invasion and fear and destruction. The Medes and Persians diverted the Euphrates and marched into the unguarded city, and enemy troops reached the gates. Belshazzar was slain, his kingdom passed to others, and a foreign ruler took the throne. Babylon was left utterly ruined and barren and desolate, and its fall came in an hour of feasting and revelry on the night of its doom.
The doom came because the record of Belshazzar's evil deeds reached its full measure as he advanced in presumption and defiance amid forgetfulness of God. He crossed the limit of God's forbearance, after which God's protection was withdrawn and God intervened to end insolence and disobedience.
Causes of Babylon's Fall
Babylon's fall was rooted in gluttony and drunkenness, with indulgence of appetite and passion forming the foundation of all its sins. The feast of Daniel 5:1-4 displays that gluttony and drunkenness joined to the praising of idols, and the wickedness of Babylon is traced to that indulgence. Such indulgence enslaves appetite and impairs discernment, corrupts judgment, and leads men away from God.
Wine beclouded reason and shut it away, so that reverence departed and nothing was held sacred. Forgetting God and profaning Him, Belshazzar and his rulers in their prosperity honored idols instead of God, dishonored His name, and credited human achievement with the honor and glory of the kingdom. That indulgent pleasure shut Christ, the center of the world's hope, out of their thoughts, and the same choice of earthly goods over the eternal still dims the evidences of truth, causes heaven and the eternal weight of glory to fade from the mind, and leaves souls starving for the bread and water of life.
Warnings for Last Days
The same drinking of wine still causes men to forget God, to praise the cup, and to blaspheme Christ, for wine beclouds and shuts away reason so that reverence departs and nothing is held sacred. Safety for youth and for mature age lies only in total abstinence from wine and in a purpose like Daniel's not to taste luxuries and wines, making God the strength.
The same Witness who heard the praises and saw the desecration in Babylon is present at every repetition of that worship. The sin is repeated whenever a heart required by God in pure and holy devotion is turned from Him to worship a fallen human being, whenever lips give praises and ravishing tenderness and adulation belonging alone to God to a sinful man or woman, whenever affections God claims are centered on earthly objects, and whenever powers solemnly consecrated by vows to God's sacred service are dragged down to administer to debasing lust, fornication and adultery. Those living in the last days who do this are far more guilty than Belshazzar.
The feast stands as an example of indulgent pleasure gatherings, suppers, and scenes of mirth and revelry with world-loving associates, where men absorbed in the pleasures of the table, in hilarity and witticism, put Christ, the center of the world's hope, out of their thoughts. God writes such merriment and feasting and indulgence in the wine cup in His book as intemperance, which does not blend with eternal realities. If the curtain separating the visible from the invisible world were rolled back, the Saviour would be seen grieved at the sight, while angels who witnessed that idolatrous feast also witness careless believers dishonoring Christ through selfish acts, unkind words, and vain thoughts.
The same fascination with the clubroom, suppers, and world-loving associates produces the same forgetfulness of God and dishonoring of His name when hearts are set on laying up earthly treasure in secret societies. Choosing earthly goods over what is eternal dims the evidences of truth, causes heaven and the eternal weight of glory to fade from the mind, and leaves souls starving for the bread and water of life while running the risk of the future.
The One who saw the feast also sees and records people's neglect and unfaithfulness, for God judges character and deeds are recorded in heaven. The hand that wrote keeps faithful record of every act of injustice or oppression committed against God's people. Belshazzar's recorded judgment, in which he was weighed and found wanting, warns that those who fail their God-given duties will be found wanting.
Making light of what God has chosen as sacred to Himself brings certain punishment. Slandering the characters of those whom Christ has purchased by His blood is a greater profanation than profaning soulless vessels, and those who speak calumny and falsehood against the servants of Christ should remember that God is a witness of their deeds.
That same God is ever present as a silent witness where sin is done in secret and people think no eye sees, watching pollution of soul and body. Every case is to pass in solemn review before Him, and no stained character will enter paradise.
Babylon fell in an hour of feasting and revelry on the night of its doom, when the kingdom was given to wine-drinking and praise of false gods. So it will be at the end of the world, in this present time of peculiar momentous importance. God is present as a witness in all such scenes of mirth and revelry where hearts set on worldly pleasure and worldly gain indulge a false hope while claiming to worship and to be Christians, and in a moment He can change the features of the scene and turn their revelry into judgment, as He did on that night. This warns those in the fallen churches today who claim to be Christians yet live for the world. Only the wise virgins with oil in their vessels with their lamps, working away from the customs and appointments of the world's great counselors and not saying My Lord delayeth His coming, will be prepared to go forth to meet the Bridegroom.
Its spirit of feasting, dancing, and sensual indulgence, with unrestrained dancing, singing, and lustful indulgence dishonoring God and making His people a shame before the heathen, matched Israel's worship of the golden calf, when people were swept into shameful acts with senses beguiled and judgment near. The same conduct under wine is seen when a wealthy man becomes boastful and irreverent while drinking, behaving as Belshazzar did drinking wine and behaving under its influence.
While Babylon was besieged by the Medes and Persians, Belshazzar feasted in revelry with his lords and drank wine from the sacred golden vessels taken from Jerusalem's temple. As they drank they gave to idols of gold and silver and brass and iron and wood and stone the praise and adoration belonging alone to the Lord God of heaven. Their drunken, sensual merriment was sacrilegious idol worship that dishonored God and profaned holy things dedicated to Him. Though they did not recognize Him, God with Christ and angels was present as an unseen Witness, observing every word and deed and making a faithful record against them. At the height of the revelry a hand traced doom upon the wall, declaring the king weighed in the balances and found wanting, and that very night he was slain and his kingdom passed to others.
Feast Setting and History
The scene belongs near the end of Daniel's life, more than sixty years after he and his companions were taken captive, when Babylon had passed from Nebuchadnezzar to weaker successors and was in gradual decline. The feast took place while Babylon was besieged by Cyrus and the Medes and Persians. Protected by the city's defenses and abundant provisions, Belshazzar felt safe and spent the time in revelry.
That revelry gathered his thousand lords with his princes and nobles in an idolatrous wine feast of riot and blasphemy. It was filled with music and dancing and feasting and sparkling wine and idolatrous sacrifices insulting the God of heaven. While profaning the golden vessels sacred to God, the company praised the idols of Babylon in sacrilegious mirth.
Belshazzar himself was a pleasure-loving and self-glorifying absolute monarch, void of self-control and corrupt at heart. He had opportunities to know God's will and had seen the lessons of Nebuchadnezzar's humiliation and restoration, which were meant to lead him to reform. But he ignored them and failed to learn the truth, and that neglect cost him the benefits obedience could have brought.
Idolatry and Sacrilege Described
They drank wine from the sacred golden vessels that had been taken from the temple at Jerusalem and consecrated to God and to Jehovah, turning holy things dedicated to God to profane use. This was profanation and desecration in blasphemous contempt and presumption. While drinking they praised the gods of gold and of silver and of brass or bronze and of iron and of wood and of stone.
The praise, adoration and ravishing tenderness belonging alone to the Lord God of heaven was given to Babylon's idols, to the cup itself, and to material objects and vessels of gold and silver, while the king extolled human wisdom. Their drunken revelry was itself an act of idolatry and sacrilegious idol worship. The revelry was marked by drunkenness and gluttony and blasphemy and contempt for sacred things, by riot and licentious purposes, and by unrestrained dancing and singing and lustful and sensual indulgence.
It dishonored God and made His people a shame before the heathen. It shows how people under Satan's influence are carried into shameful conduct that dulls and beguiles the senses.
Unseen Witness and Judgment
The drinking and praising of gods of gold and silver and brass and iron and wood and stone went on under the gaze of a heavenly Witness whom the revelers did not recognize. God was present as an unseen witness in the palace in the hour of wildest merriment, and Christ and angels were present as an uninvited, unseen Witness observing every word and deed. He heard the praises given to idols and saw the desecration of vessels consecrated to God and to Jehovah, and He made a history and faithful record to testify against them to the close of time.
At the height of the revelry a bloodless, invisible hand appeared and traced mysterious characters of doom and judgment upon the palace wall. The writing filled the king and his courtiers with terror and testified to the king's true condition and traced his destiny. By the servant of the Most High it was declared that his motives and character and life and soul had been weighed in the balances of the sanctuary and found wanting.
That same night the feast was suddenly overtaken by invasion and fear and destruction. The Medes and Persians diverted the Euphrates and marched into the unguarded city, and enemy troops reached the gates. Belshazzar was slain, his kingdom passed to others, and a foreign ruler took the throne. Babylon was left utterly ruined and barren and desolate, and its fall came in an hour of feasting and revelry on the night of its doom.
The doom came because the record of Belshazzar's evil deeds reached its full measure as he advanced in presumption and defiance amid forgetfulness of God. He crossed the limit of God's forbearance, after which God's protection was withdrawn and God intervened to end insolence and disobedience.
Causes of Babylon's Fall
Babylon's fall was rooted in gluttony and drunkenness, with indulgence of appetite and passion forming the foundation of all its sins. The feast of Daniel 5:1-4 displays that gluttony and drunkenness joined to the praising of idols, and the wickedness of Babylon is traced to that indulgence. Such indulgence enslaves appetite and impairs discernment, corrupts judgment, and leads men away from God.
Wine beclouded reason and shut it away, so that reverence departed and nothing was held sacred. Forgetting God and profaning Him, Belshazzar and his rulers in their prosperity honored idols instead of God, dishonored His name, and credited human achievement with the honor and glory of the kingdom. That indulgent pleasure shut Christ, the center of the world's hope, out of their thoughts, and the same choice of earthly goods over the eternal still dims the evidences of truth, causes heaven and the eternal weight of glory to fade from the mind, and leaves souls starving for the bread and water of life.
Warnings for Last Days
The same drinking of wine still causes men to forget God, to praise the cup, and to blaspheme Christ, for wine beclouds and shuts away reason so that reverence departs and nothing is held sacred. Safety for youth and for mature age lies only in total abstinence from wine and in a purpose like Daniel's not to taste luxuries and wines, making God the strength.
The same Witness who heard the praises and saw the desecration in Babylon is present at every repetition of that worship. The sin is repeated whenever a heart required by God in pure and holy devotion is turned from Him to worship a fallen human being, whenever lips give praises and ravishing tenderness and adulation belonging alone to God to a sinful man or woman, whenever affections God claims are centered on earthly objects, and whenever powers solemnly consecrated by vows to God's sacred service are dragged down to administer to debasing lust, fornication and adultery. Those living in the last days who do this are far more guilty than Belshazzar.
The feast stands as an example of indulgent pleasure gatherings, suppers, and scenes of mirth and revelry with world-loving associates, where men absorbed in the pleasures of the table, in hilarity and witticism, put Christ, the center of the world's hope, out of their thoughts. God writes such merriment and feasting and indulgence in the wine cup in His book as intemperance, which does not blend with eternal realities. If the curtain separating the visible from the invisible world were rolled back, the Saviour would be seen grieved at the sight, while angels who witnessed that idolatrous feast also witness careless believers dishonoring Christ through selfish acts, unkind words, and vain thoughts.
The same fascination with the clubroom, suppers, and world-loving associates produces the same forgetfulness of God and dishonoring of His name when hearts are set on laying up earthly treasure in secret societies. Choosing earthly goods over what is eternal dims the evidences of truth, causes heaven and the eternal weight of glory to fade from the mind, and leaves souls starving for the bread and water of life while running the risk of the future.
The One who saw the feast also sees and records people's neglect and unfaithfulness, for God judges character and deeds are recorded in heaven. The hand that wrote keeps faithful record of every act of injustice or oppression committed against God's people. Belshazzar's recorded judgment, in which he was weighed and found wanting, warns that those who fail their God-given duties will be found wanting.
Making light of what God has chosen as sacred to Himself brings certain punishment. Slandering the characters of those whom Christ has purchased by His blood is a greater profanation than profaning soulless vessels, and those who speak calumny and falsehood against the servants of Christ should remember that God is a witness of their deeds.
That same God is ever present as a silent witness where sin is done in secret and people think no eye sees, watching pollution of soul and body. Every case is to pass in solemn review before Him, and no stained character will enter paradise.
Babylon fell in an hour of feasting and revelry on the night of its doom, when the kingdom was given to wine-drinking and praise of false gods. So it will be at the end of the world, in this present time of peculiar momentous importance. God is present as a witness in all such scenes of mirth and revelry where hearts set on worldly pleasure and worldly gain indulge a false hope while claiming to worship and to be Christians, and in a moment He can change the features of the scene and turn their revelry into judgment, as He did on that night. This warns those in the fallen churches today who claim to be Christians yet live for the world. Only the wise virgins with oil in their vessels with their lamps, working away from the customs and appointments of the world's great counselors and not saying My Lord delayeth His coming, will be prepared to go forth to meet the Bridegroom.
Its spirit of feasting, dancing, and sensual indulgence, with unrestrained dancing, singing, and lustful indulgence dishonoring God and making His people a shame before the heathen, matched Israel's worship of the golden calf, when people were swept into shameful acts with senses beguiled and judgment near. The same conduct under wine is seen when a wealthy man becomes boastful and irreverent while drinking, behaving as Belshazzar did drinking wine and behaving under its influence.